The Naturalist's Library

Edinburgh & London, WH Lizars, [1833-43], 40 vol., small 8vo (180 x 110mm) fine half calf gilt by Zaehnsdorf, with engraved portraits and titles, c.1280 plates, mostly hand-coloured. 6 vols have the hinges repaired.

Jardine’s Wonderfully Illustrated Work of Natural History.

Jardine was born on 23 February 1800 at 28 North Hanover Street in Edinburgh, the son of Sir Alexander Jardine, 6th baronet of Applegarth and his wife, Jane Maule. He was educated in both York and Edinburgh then studied medicine at Edinburgh University.

He made natural history available to all levels of Victorian society by editing the hugely popular forty volumes of The Naturalist’s Library (1833–1843) issued and published by his brother-in-law, the Edinburgh printer and engraver, William Home Lizars. The series was divided into four main sections: Ornithology (14 volumes), Mammalia (13 volumes), Entomology (7 volumes), and Ichthyology (6 volumes); each prepared by a leading naturalist. James Duncan wrote the insect volumes. The artists responsible for the illustrations included Edward Lear. The work was published in Edinburgh by W.H.Lizars. The frontispiece is a portrait of Pierre André Latreille.

Nissen ZBI 4708; Wood, p.405; Zimmer, p.326